Sincerely intend to turn each interview into a solid job offer. Do your best to make the position and the pay into something acceptable. Make the most of each interview. Negotiate changes in the job itself. Suggest additional things you can do for the company jobs often can be upgraded a level or two. Or perhaps the manager could refer you to another area of the company. You should make every effort to turn an interview into a reasonable job offer.
- This is an opportunity to practice your negotiation skills and increase the number of interviews you turn into offers. You can always turn the job down later.
- Getting a job offer helps your self esteem. You can then say you received a number of offers, but they didn't seem right for you. This puts you in a stronger negotiating position.
- Even if you turn down an offer, stay friendly with the hiring manager. This may lead to another offer later that is more appropriate.
- When you get an offer you are not sure about, say that you have a few other things you must attend to, but will get back to them in a week. Then contact other companies that were of real interest to you. Tell them you have received an offer but were hoping to work something out with them. They may tell you to take the other offer or they may consider you more seriously because the other offer makes you more valuable. Sometimes getting another offer is the only thing that will make a company act.
- You may be surprised: perhaps what you originally found objectionable can be changed to your liking. If you end the process too early, you lose the possibility of changing the situation to suit you. Having a job created especially for you is the best outcome.
COMING IN AS A CONSULTANT
Some job hunters are willing to work for a company as a consultant and hope the company will later put them on the payroll. This rarely happens. If you are doing a great job for little money, the company has no incentive to change that arrangement. If you want to be "on salary," consult only if you are sure you have the self discipline to continue job hunting after you start consulting.
You can parlay a consulting assignment into a full time job at a decent salary if you do outstanding work on the assignment, and get a decent offer somewhere else. Then tell your manager that you enjoy what you are doing and would like to be a salaried employee but have received another job offer. You would prefer working for his company, but this temporary arrangement is not what you want.
AIMING FOR THE SECOND JOB OUT
Sometimes the job you really want is too big a step for you right now. Instead of trying to get it in one move, go for it in two moves. Make your next job one that will qualify you for the job you really want.
WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT?
To get ahead, many people compromise what they want. A lot of compromising can result in material success but also feelings of self betrayal and not knowing who you really are.
It can be difficult to hold on to your values and live the kind of life that is right for you. You may feel there is no hope for change. If you are really honest, you may discover that you have tried very little to make changes. Ask yourself honestly what you have done to improve your situation.
Deciding where you want to work is a complex problem. Many unhappy professionals, managers, and executives admit they made a mistake in deciding to work for their present companies. They think they should have done more research and more thinking before they took the job.
The stress of job hunting can impair your judgment. You may make a decision without enough information because you simply want to "get a job." Ego can also be involved: you want to get an offer quickly so you can tell others and yourself that you are worth something. Or you may deceive yourself into thinking you have enough information. Even if you are normally a good decision maker, you can shortcut the decision making process when it comes to your own career.
You will make better decisions when you are not deciding under pressure. Start now to see what your options are. Then you will have already thought them through in case you have to make a move quickly later.
Objectively evaluate the information you come up with, and develop contingency plans. Decide whether to leave your present position, and evaluate new opportunities. List the pros and cons of each possibility for you and those close to you.
You may decide, for example, that a certain position is higher level, higher paying, and more prestigious, but you will have less time for your family, and the job will make demands on your income because you will have to take on a more expensive life style. You may even decide that you don't like the kind of work, the conditions, or the people, or that your lack of leisure time will push you farther away from the way you want to live.
Depending on your values, the job may be worth it or it may not. If you list the pros and cons, you are more likely to adhere to your decision and have fewer regrets. You are more likely to weigh the trade offs, and perhaps think of other alternatives. You will decide what is important to you. You will have fewer negative surprises later, and will be warned of areas where you may need more information. You will make better decisions and have more realistic expectations about the future.
WHAT IF YOUR INTERVIEWS ARE NOT TURNING INTO JOB OFFERS?
Listen. You may find that your target market is declining, or that you don't have the required background, or whatever. One of my clients kept saying that managers insulted her. If you have the same experiences again and again, find out what you are doing wrong.
Perhaps you are unconsciously turning people down. A job hunter may make unreasonable demands because, deep inside, he or she knows there are things dramatically wrong with a situation, and asks for more money or a better title to make up for the unacceptable working conditions. Then the company rejects the applicant. The job hunter thinks he or she was turned down for the job. In reality, he turned down the job. He did not let an offer happen because he knew the job was not right, and he made it fall through. There is nothing wrong with this so long as he knows he could have had a job offer if he had wanted one.
Job hunters are under tremendous pressure to answer to a lot of people who want to know "how your job hunt is going." If you say you are still looking and have not gotten any offers, you may feel bad. That's why you may want to get a few offers even though you are not interested in those particular jobs. On the other hand, if your job hunt seems to be going very quickly, you may not want to waste your time on practice offers.
Make sure you are addressing the company's problems not your own. A major mistake that I have made myself is focusing on what I want rather than on what the company or the manager needs.
Perhaps you are not talking to the right people. Are you interviewing with people two levels higher than you are those in a position to hire you? If you are spending a lot of time talking to people at your own level, you can learn about the field, but this is unlikely to result in job offers.
If you don't know why, ask them. If appropriate, you may want to call a few of the people you interviewed with to find out why you did not get the job. If you are really stuck and feel you are not interviewing well, this can be very valuable feedback for you. You may even be able to turn a negative situation around.
DO YOUR BEST AND THEN LET IT GO
You are trying to find a match between yourself and a company. You are not going to click with everyone anymore than everyone is going to click with you. Don't expect every interview to turn into a job offer. The more interviews you have, the better you will do at each one.
And don't punish yourself later. Do your best, and then do your best again.
Hang in there. Get a lot of interviews. Know your lines, and don't bump into the furniture. You will find the right job. As M. H. Anderson said: "If at first you don't succeed, you are running about average."
